Zap's Wrap August 26th

hi friends,

last week i made my 9th angel investment!

while they are still in stealth mode, from the moment i met grace hanson, i knew i was in! after being a 5x chief claims officer, she is now building ai for the claims space. she is a rockstar- smart, hard working, and a fast learner.

they just closed their preseed raise. if you ask grace, she would say it took way too long. if you asked me, i would say that nobody raises that amount of money, that quickly in july and august (:

startup stuff that’s cool:

• ducky, the customer service ai startup, inked several new customers recently. if your biz has a large customer support function, make sure to check these guys out. the founder james o’brien is hiring for a founding engineer. super exciting opportunity to work with not only one of the nicest founders you’ll ever meet, but a team that has early traction and is just getting started!!

• nikki sanz with giggs, the linkedin for the live event industry, went on the show the elevator pitch and got an investment from marc randolph. you can watch here.

• while i knew 25M had a healthcare venture studio with a presence here in town, i met jason judd to learn that they also have a supply chain studio that has spun out a few companies already. the one local one is brooke tuttle with offload for overweight freight carriers.

• i met the team at fufild, an HR tech startup focused on improved the lives of hourly-wage employees through their new way to do benefits. matt allen is a serial entrepreneur and founder with joel legg as CTO.

• i met (again) bryce galen. he’s a 2nd time founder on a mission to give homebuyers more options with landian. he previously built the fintech startup zero, raised 34M, and sold to avant. now, he’s focused on how the NARS settlement will shake up the homebuying process (here’s a good post about it). his real estate cofounder and an advisor lives here in town, so im trying to convince him to come to nashville to build (:

personal stuff:

• while i meant to send this friday, i was on the road to hike in the smoky mountains so monday it is!!! here’s a pic of me and my friend analys at the top of mt leconte!

• a personal win, me and my boyfriend started a little side hustle helping my local startups hire engineers in brazil. we just helped the CTO at edgevanta hire 2 folks who started last week and they have been 10/10 engineers!

• i sit on the board of mending hearts, a non-profit dedicated to helping women recover from addiction. our annual breakfast is coming up on thursday, september 26th and i am raising money for it. if i have ever helped you get a job, meet people in town, find customers, etc, i would really appreciate it if you gave a donation. here is the link.

events coming up:

• entrepreneur family pool party on saturday sept 7th: me and my friend/entrepreneur/angel investor bill brennan are hosting a pool party for the families of entrepreneurs. somehow i am roped into running childrens games like diving contests and water balloon toss and mr zap is on the grill lol. you should def come and bring your kids. let me know and ill send you the details!

• if you’re coming to town for 3686, please let me know!!!

to the moon,

zap